Child of Eden is Filled with Happiness

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And not just your happiness.

By Erik Brudvig

Watch a trailer of Child of Eden and it will look like nothing more than a prettier version of the cult-classic Rez. Play Child of Eden, and you'll realize the true potential of Kinect. It's an entirely different experience.

Now, before I get you all excited with early praise, there's one thing that has to be said. The technology isn't quite there yet and on this unfinished game there was a slight amount of input lag coupled with the occasional stutter in frame rate. These were minor annoyances in an otherwise mind-bending experience. It's difficult to describe exactly how different a game like Child of Eden can become by simply putting down a controller, but here goes.

The basic game design here is nothing new. Call it an on-rails shooter if you want conventional names -- the idea is to shoot targets before they can do you harm. A rapid fire weapon is complemented by a target-lock homing device while the traditional screen clearing bombs are on hand for when things get extra dicey. The story is that Eden has been infected by a virus and it's your job to wipe it clean and restore peace.

Exit Theatre Mode

When played with a traditional controller -- which is totally possible should you decide against picking up Kinect -- Child of Eden is like Rez, all over again. It's fun, it's a bit trippy, and it has sweet music by the Genki Rockets to complete the experience. If that's all there was to Child of Eden I'd be mildly excited. Rez was, after all, pretty great.

At a recent press event, I was given the opportunity to play without any controller between me and the game. Hold up either hand and you can move the targeting reticle around the screen. Flick your wrist, a bit like throwing a Frisbee, and you can fire off your locked-on shots. Clap and you'll switch weapons, or raise your hands in the air for a bomb. Everything is on rails, but if you drag your arm towards the edge of the screen you'll find that you can adjust the camera just a bit in any direction.

Cleanse this beast.

These may sound like simple motions, and they are until your arm begins to tire. That simplicity -- almost as if you're conducting the game as the designer, Tetsuya Mizuguchi is keen to point out -- allows you to connect to the game in ways you never really could before. It may sound cliche, but for a trippy game filled with wondrous sights and thumping music, that's priority number one.

Enemies are painted and then brushed away. At one point, an obstacle appears covered in protective green cubes that can only be moved with the rapid fire weapon, a motion that feels as if you're actually wiping the world clean. It feels like you're a sorcerer in this world of digital beings. Or at least it did for me. Looking around the room I could see that everybody had their own approach to playing -- from huge exaggerated, aggressive moves to subtle flicks -- and each appeared to work without issue, showing a great deal of flexibility.

And once you reach the end, you'll find the "hope and happiness" tagline for Child of Eden is indeed appropriate. The final level will include photos submitted by the players (you can do so by heading to the official Child of Eden page). The deadline to get your happy memories into the game is November 20, and Ubisoft promises all approved photos will make it into the game.

Your photo could be included in the final level.

This is the paradigm shift that sets Kinect apart -- not the goofy ability to pretend to play ping-pong without holding a paddle. Casual oriented mini-game collections like Kinect Sports or Kinect Adventures might appeal to the family with kids or the non-gamer, and you might even pick those titles up to show-off at parties. But Child of Eden is in a whole different league.